Lovely describes itself as "the only rental marketplace where renters can search, apply, and pay rent within a single, fully integrated platform." Spot on example of one more firm taking responsibility for the customer experience from End to End.

All news coverage has noted that a monthly rent check is one of, if not THE only physical check that many renters write every month. Finding a stamp, an envelope and a mailbox can be a surprisingly significant challenge, at times resulting in late payments for renters who manage the rest of their lives online.

Given this dynamic - Lovely takes a terrific new tack on technology adoption.

As covered in the Verge and Inman, rather than relying on landlords and property managers to change the way they accept payments, Lovely enables renters - the ones with the most to gain - to drive adoption. In a model similar to Open Table, the system is free for consumers and monetizes with a nominal charge for B2B users. I love this - as it decentralizes decision-making and makes it easier for individual customers to drive their landlords towards solutions the renters prefer.

Real estate as an industry is often criticized for its hesitation to adopt new technology. However, slower innovation is understandable and, in many cases, logical - because change is risky. For the most part, the traditional procedures such as rent checks "work" - and any departure from the normal process could potentially cause more harm than good (if it ain't broke, don't f$@# with it....etc). So, if Pay with Lovely works, it may alleviate landlord anxiety, by providing 'proof' that customers want and will use the new method.

The payments story has been in the works for months. Lovely closed its Series A and acquired Rentmatic.com last November. Rentmatic is reported to have processed more than $60 million in rent payments since it opened for business in 2006, and Lovely aims to leverage that technology in its new platform.

Lovely is sweetening the deal with an awesome rent giveaway of up to $2,500 for renters who adopt Pay with Lovely. If Lovely paid your rent for one month, what would YOU do with the money?!

Unlocking data for DIFFERENT players in the ecosystem. For example, updater provides a service for consumers through change of address, but also provides aggregated behavioral data to brokers or service providers –

Designing products that away from just insight, to decision-making tools. “It’s not enough to sell the data – it needs to be packaged to in a way that adds value” at the moment of decision.

Josh Guttman of Softbank spelled out his firm’s interest in large asset classes underserved by technology – including residential and commercial real estate, fixed income and health care - particularly for teams that have demonstrated consumer behavior change. Johanne Wilson added emphasis on the importance of excellent customer service Brian Hirsch gestured broadly about transparency and disruption, investments to work against the current industry rather that with it, aiming to “free the world, free the market......”

Regardless of which team's strategy resonates the most for you - Three key takeaways:

Real Estate Tech is a thing – an established investment meme.

We’ve moved beyond incubators and firmly into the VC domain of the capital stack – expect panels like these at every alternative investment conference to come.

Data has to help someone in order to be valuable - otherwise it's just noise. Watch for examples of Wu's points - teams, products and services that help AT THE MOMENT OF DECISION - providing help, not just information - which requires an ever increasing degree of understanding and empathy for a real-live consumer.

At the risk of being sacrilegious, given that my phone numbers all start with a 206, I am not a sports fan. Especially when it comes to team sports involving big locker rooms and screaming crowds. However, like the rest of Seattle, I was entranced at by last Sunday’s Superbowl and warmed by the hero’s welcome this town is pouring out for our returning athletes.

The most fascinating part of the game for me was off field – when the commentators’ discussion around Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson turned to his father’s now-famous question to his young, 5’11” son years ago “Why not you?”… as well as the young Wilson’s response, including years of dedicated practice and intentional preparation. The reporters recounted how, last year at this time, Wilson showed up early as he purportedly ‘always does’ – not at his own team’s game - but at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Wilson arrived before the competing teams – walked the field at the Superdome, got down on his knees to SMELL it. He watched the teams prepare, listened as the seats filled, and felt the roar of the crowds – to take in those sounds, smells and feelings as preparation for the moment when, not if, it was his turn. That's visualization at work. That, I can relate to. Victor Cheng, Founder of The Strategic Outlier Letter and counsel to MBA’s and over-achievers all over the world, wrote a poignant post a few days after Seattle’s victory. He emphasized the critical combination of both a) breaking through self-imposed limits on what you think you’re capable of b) putting in the deliberate practice to reach long term goals On dreaming big – Cheng reasons that most people dramatically underestimate their capabilities, which in turn, limits their performance.

If you think a particular opportunity exceeds your actual limits as a human being, the logical decision is to not bother trying. It is the optimal decision because it conserves time and mental energy resources for a non-achievable outcome.The problem with this line of thinking is most people perceive the limits of their own capabilities incorrectly. (Ha, I’ve been doing this my entire life!)…

So Cheng is a massive proponent of dreaming big. He’s not the only one who has studied the impact of goals as a self-fulfilling prophecy for extraordinary performance. By way of example, James Collins and Jerry Porras popularized the acronym BHAG – short for “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” during research for their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. The authors provided the following examples:

However – wanting and believing is necessary, but not sufficient. Echoing the editors of Fortune in the phenomenally researched 2006 article “Secret of Greatness” and Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”, Cheng says:

It was not my natural talent that has led to my success, it was my willingness to put in the effort. The wonderful thing about this is that it is a CHOICE available to any human being.Because talent without effort, still does not get you anywhere.Nobody is born ready to be a management consultant, a Superbowl champion quarterback, or in any other career.

As many of you know, I am hiring for my team at Redfin. Last week, conducting reference calls - I heard this: "Candidate X wants to be known as the smartest and most informed person in real estate in Seattle. Big goal, right?! I think it's kind of amazing - and given what I have seen over the last two years, If "X" wants it, "X" will do the work to make it happen. It makes ME want to be better!"

I like that.

I like it because that's the kind of goal one needs as an anchor, and a beacon - to keep pushing through the days working on anything that matters, when things are harder than planned, take longer, and it's time to dig deep.

So what’s your Superbowl? Your BHAG? And what field will you go to at dawn, to prepare? Read on below for the full text of Cheng’s article.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful four days. Today - I’ll pass on a delightful recipe for happiness. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Catholic Benedictine monk, TED celebrity and founder of the Gratefulness Network – has studied happiness and its cousin, gratitude, for years. His thesis: while many assume that happiness opens the door for gratitude, Rast concludes that a grateful approach to life is the foundation – happiness is a pleasant byproduct. Rast clarifies that we cannot and should not be grateful for everything - violence, war, loss, unfaithfulness… However, even when we are presented with something terrible, we can choose to be grateful for the opportunity in what we do next. That opportunity is the gift – which Rast calls the “master key” to happiness. “It can be an opportunity to stand up for your values. To help others, to do something kind, to build something… Those who avail themselves of those opportunities are the ones we admire, the ones we feel have made something meaningful in their lives.” So – how can we find a METHOD to cultivate this response? Rast goes on to dissect the tiny inflection points that can make the difference between something happening to us vs. opportunities we create. He boils it down to three steps: STOP. LOOK. And GO.

He focuses on a key point which has been well-researched by the likes of Martin Seligman, Hitendra Wadhwa, Dan Baker and leading psychologists and neuroscientists – Fear is one of the most significant blocks to happiness – but gratitude cancels out fear, as the two emotions cannot be sustained simultaneously. Grateful people are also joyful people. Shake, stir, repeat and voila: happiness. What to do? Follow the good man’s advice:STOP - Build in small moments of reflection to pause. - Take a moment to watch Stiendle Rast’s video “A Good Day” - Brad Feld – a favorite VC and “life-hacker” offers a number of hard-earned lessons at regular intervals. He and his wife have built in daily Four Minutes in the Morning (it’s not what you think!!), monthly Life Dinners and a quarterly un-plug. Ric and I have taken these up and I’ve shared with many start-up friends who have used them with great results. - Develop a meditation practice. Hitendra Wadhwa, founder of the Institute for Personal Leadership at Columbia University, a math genius, McKinsey alum, and counsel to business professionals globally, is adamant about the power of meditation to re-wire the brain. Wadhwa offers that meditation is one powerful technique to monitor thoughts and feelings so they can be consciously deployed. Along with solitude, it helps create self-awareness – core to Wadhwa’s leadership teachings. High performance athletes have engaged in visualization and focusing the mind and body for hundreds of years – business leaders can benefit from similar intentional practice. LOOK - Frame, or Re-frame what you are seeing, in terms of the opportunity it presents – for learning, mastery, and improvement. - Dan Baker is adamant that happiness comes from being proactive. A note – this is different than control. Rather, it is taking the reigns during what Baker refers to as the “critical quarter-second” to reframe situations to make sure that your interpretation puts you in the driver’s seat, rather than ceding direction of the emotional train over to a sense of victimization, entitlement, or blaming someone else. - Daniel Pink, author of DRiVE - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us has documented compelling stories about workplace performance and incentives. When people frame challenge as an opportunity to gain mastery over a particular skill or subject - they remain engaged and achieve better results. Try it. GO - Do something about it! - Choose your response – recognize always that we DO have choice. - Practice makes perfect. Cultivating an appreciative outlook for life will take time. The standard rule of thumb for expertise is 10,000 hours...maybe you'll be faster..

How we won the opportunity to bring their gorgeous building to market? Probably best to ask them... On our side, hard work. We will deliver the full strength of Redfin - from digital marketing and breadth of exposure on Redfin.com to sophisticated PR, marketing, and design. As an early indication, we reached 674 'Likes' on the Solo Lofts Facebook page and over 125 registrations within five days of launch - 95% buyers and 5% real estate professionals. Not bad for 20 units. So far, so good. Pre-sales begin in January, 2014. Follow Solo Lofts on Facebook for the latest details, and register online, as we'll be building on that momentum in weeks to come.

Also November 13th, just a few hours later, Redfin announced it's $50mm capital raise led by Tiger Global Management and T Rowe Price. This would be great news on any day. It's phenomenal news for Redfin Builder Services, as funds will be invested in growth - no secrets there, all press has highlighted this topic. Net, 2014 will be an exciting and busy year for all of us.

Earlier this summer, just two minutes and seventeen seconds after sending my signed contract across, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman was the first to respond " Welcome aboard! We’re so glad you decided to join us. Strap in, it’s going to be a wild ride".

Just before Halloween, Matt Lerner published a fun, DIY commentary in GeekWire re: teaching his kids python. Lerner, CTO of WalkScore drew from a range of resources, then gave sample sequences to try at home.

One more for good consideration - Hopscotch. Hopscotch is coding for kids, an iPad programming language. It is designed to work for both genders and especially effective for girls, which, often get the sense that coding is not their domain. As one user said: “My daughter always thought computer programming was for boys, but she could not put down Hopscotch, and said building a game seemed fun to her too." Hopscotch lifts sights, with the mantra: Anybody can code. Even—and especially—kids.

Ric and I are both launching new ventures we love and believe in, meaning we spend our weekdays/nights working at a sprint and Sunday mornings recovering and aligning calendars to carve out precious time for family, friends exercise, and dates. Yesterday, he sent me "11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business" from the hilarious Stephanie St.Claire. This was my first exposure to her writing and I gobbled it up. Read it three times. Loved it.

St. Claire's perspective is thoughtful and granular. She nails the concepts of internal resistance - ('no way, I shouldn't have to do that/ it won't take me that long b/c I'm special!') and the opportunities for self-mastery with specific, well considered examples. She brings marketing to the fore - emphasizing that it is not enough to build something beautiful - you have to get it to the people who can use it. She slices through the romanticism of the lone creative genius and clarifies that growth requires excellence in Marketing. Sales. Convincing. Evangelizing. This point is a pillar of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi'sCreativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. Csikszentmihalyi studied individuals in art, politics and business who had a lasting impact on their domain of choice. What did he find? The most successful exhibited both ends of the behavioral spectrums: a) extreme internal discipline to work and create, alone, often for days at a time AND b) extreme ability to identify gate-keepers and taste-makers, to present and 'sell' work in the channels that matter, in order to gain acceptance and widespread adoption.

St. Claire has earned a spot with the list of goodies I turn to and recommend to anyone with start-up aspirations, including Paul Graham,Brad Feld and Dan Shipper (currently a senior at UPenn). I'll caveat that unlike the others on this list, St. Claire is neither a techie nor a VC - she is a guidance counselor and expert in the laws of attraction. I'll posit that this is a good thing. She's an entrepreneur, doing what she loves, and doing it well. Her list:

1. Running the business is your first priority. 2. Ready to meet your soul mate? It’s you. 3. Your trajectory for success will take as long as everyone else’s, even though you’re special and brilliant. 4. Running out of money is a common part of the journey.5. Build a hybrid stream of income.6. Read Steven Pressfield’s Do the Work. 7. Spend less time researching, more time doing.8. Only say yes to clients/collaborative projects that are HELL YESES. 9. You must devote time to becoming a brilliant marketer. MUST.10. Email will be your new best frenemy. 11. Do not work your business 7 days a week... Breathe, play, laugh. Remember how lucky you are to be an entrepreneur. If you want to be smarter in business, read everything these two people write:James Altucher and Penelope Trunk.

Why? 1) These firms have proven their value to real live customers, raised enough capital to be around in years to come, and are making fundamental innovations to the business process in their respective domains. As such, each should be a household name in any CRE shop. However, we're both surprised by how frequently we get asked "Which real estate tech firms should I be watching??" We wrote this piece because most people read faster than we can talk ; D

2) Collectively, these firms represent a material change in the way our industry gathers data and how we use it to make decisions. Real Estate Data 1.0 was collected primarily via warehouses of analysts calling owners, brokers, and looking up public records one by one. Each of the teams we covered has a 2.0 approach - each gets some, if not all, of their data in from customers and aggregates it to create unprecedented visibility into the markets they cover. This method is fast and relatively inexpensive. The information these teams publish is easy to use. That means that a relative newbie to Real Estate can access gobs of information which used to be the exclusive purview of professionals who'd put in their time (...often decades of it).

That matters for Real Estate professionals because this has happened before. And when it's happened, it's turned the subject industry upside down.

Full text of the article below. As always, welcome your comments, questions and ideas.

It's been a whirlwind first few weeks with Redfin. We are working hard and fast to create new products for home-builders and real estate developers and have put together some data sets I look forward to sharing with you. In the meantime, I am taking a mandatory break this week.... relaxation via hip surgery. Arthroscopy for a long term running injury, under the care of the celebrated Dr. James Bruckner.

This is my second. Rather than immerse myself in the leagues of bad (and sometimes all-too-good) legal dramas on Netflix streaming, as I did on round one, I've taken the the quiet time as an opportunity to brush up on the tools of our trade.

If you're not already aware of Juice Analytics - they are worth getting to know. With the rallying cry "Your data is meant for action" - the team aims to help you mobilize your data to tell powerful stories. Juice offers a primer in 30 Days to Storytelling with Data. The layout is informal, with a wide range of resources.

I loved it - ploughing through the whole course in three days. Some of the most powerful work samples below:

2010 figures are based on official FBI Crime Reports. 2013 data is real-time, crowd-sourced by tweets to @GunDeaths, an anonymous source which continuously gathers and tweets gun-related deaths in the U.S. As long as a verifiable source is provided, anyone can contribute through Twitter or email.

From Periscopic: "We acknowledge that this data is incomplete. Some of the data may be missing or inaccurate, and many killings are not even reported in an online news source. While this data is less reliable, it provides a real-time window into daily gun violence on a national scale. The FBI 2010 dataset included only homicides. However....suicides are included in this 2013 visualization."

Shockingly, Slate estimates that nearly 60% of gun deaths are suicides, so their inclusion is material, to say the least. Watch the animation below for a poignant and powerful real-time representation.

2. Nancy Duarte's graphic analysis of MLK Jr's I Have A Dream Speech - what made it so powerful? A short poetic cadence, a mixture of what is and what could be. Silence for emphasis, repetition in series of three or four, metaphors and visual descriptions, familiar songs and scripture, political documents as reference. Watch and learn below. For more - see Maria Popova's perspective on Duarte's work @ Brain Pickings.

3. Hans Rosing's playful and utterly convincing argument re: The washing machine as the greatest invention of the industrial revolution.